Our team is excited to share the first chapters of their groundbreaking title for PlayStation VR, Fracked, available now from PlayStation Store as a completely free demo! The full game launch was confirmed on August 20, and we can’t wait to hear what you think of this new action-adventure entry to the PS VR library.
Play for yourself
Now you can hit the slopes of Alaska with PlayStation Move and experience Fracked’s explosive gameplay for yourself by visiting PlayStation Store. The full game will be released to the public on August 20, with up to 72 hours of early access and bonus content for those of you who pre-order the Deluxe Edition.
What can you expect from the demo? An explosive mix of walking, climbing and skiing gameplay, all housed in the first part of the game! Race down snow-capped mountain peaks, engage in shootouts, and face relentless interdimensional enemies.
Beginnings and style of play
From our experience with previous titles, we knew we wanted to provide an immersive game with varied traversal methods. Exploring these other crossing methods has been a great inspiration to us. We knew rock climbing worked well in VR, and we also made a skiing demo that got so addicting that people kept coming back to play. We knew then that we had something definitely worth exploring.
The demo opens with our hero following an avalanche, and after requesting mountain rescue help, you are tasked with outrunning the next impending snowdrift. This biting ski section immediately immerses the player in the action from the start with an intuitive 1: 1 movement. After this epic escape, the experience switches to equally frenzied combat and escalation scenarios as you dig deeper into the adventure.
Game design and immersion
Grab Cover is a core game mechanic in Fracked that re-energizes the genre. We actually have a term for it called run and cover the shots. That’s a big part of the innovation in this game. These are concepts that would generally contradict each other, but are designed to keep combat fresh. For a moment, as a hunter you feel like a true Hollywood action hero, but as you get overwhelmed you intuitively take a breather. As the power dynamics change, cover becomes a necessary tactical strategy to outsmart the enemy as you become the prey.
There are a lot of fun arcade-style VR experiences out there, but they’re generally short and often on rails. We decided to offer a more conventional campaign experience, with complete freedom of movement. We wanted to provide players with well-established and popular conventional gameplay tactics, such as how best to bypass an enemy position and then improve it with VR. We wanted to demonstrate to a larger audience of gamers that virtual reality can evolve the typical gaming experience while providing unprecedented immersion.
Role-playing and fun for the player
We’ve learned that role-playing is extremely important for premium VR experiences. Players want to be a character and almost play the role, but it’s a balancing act. You never want the role-playing game to interfere with the fun, and it shouldn’t come at the expense of the player’s enjoyment. We decided to break convention and really deliver a fast paced first person shooter experience. This was factored into the design of the appearance of new magazines under the pistol for manual reloading, rather than having to navigate an arbitrary menu or fumble with virtual pockets. We don’t want game mechanics to interrupt the pulsating pace of the action.
We believe that in VR you can get caught up in the tech and lose sight of what the gaming audience wants, which is just a really fun game. With great gaming experience as a priority, you wonder how VR can elevate proven FPS sensitivities, rather than focusing on providing a demonstration of VR technology. You need that gamer mentality first. How can VR improve gaming experiences?
Quick recap
The nDreams team can’t wait for you to get your hands on Fracked and experience this reinvention of the action-adventure genre. Fracked will launch worldwide on August 20, with access to the Deluxe Edition starting August 17. You can check out the demo now on PlayStation Store.
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